Text by ASH MEHTA
Art by XIAOHAN LI
OPINION:
It’s not about us
Internet reaction to Ukrainian war reveals U.S. self-centrism
ers,” and “facilitators.” How do you effect change? It depends which viewpoint you subscribe to. “‘Slacktivism’ combines the words ‘slacker’ and ‘activism’ to create an epithet that suggests that online political actions fghanistan. that require relatively little time or comMyanmar. mitment often act to supplant, rather than And now, Ukraine. supplement, physical, ‘real world’ activism, The past few years have had no have little political impact and only really shortage of national and global disasters, serve the egotistical needs of those particiand it makes perfect sense that we feel some- pating in them,” writes Allsop. what lost in how to help out with a war goPeople who believe slacktivism doming on across the world. inates social media subscribe to the viewA lot of people point that all social have turned to so- “The slacktivist would media activism is cial media as a way inherently performato advocate against always use social media tive. Russia’s invasion in activism in a self-serving, No matter how Ukraine. However, well-intentioned, the this comes with a ineffective way.” slacktivist would almajor downside: the ways use social mecycle of performative dia activism in a self-serving, ineffective way. activism. Performative activists tend to priSomeone who thinks all online activoritize their advocacy makes them look over ism is slacktivism would then say that the the actual change they effect. best way to help out Ukraine is to orgaA combination of these “activists” nize large-scale demonstrations, to and social media’s fleeting attention span petition the government directly, leads to the short life-cycle of performative to fly out and provide humaniactivism. Conversation sparks. People are tarian aid. shamed for not talking about it 24/7. And Digital presence, to them, the conversation dies in two days. makes no impact, especially in This cycle often seems like an inevita- the scope of something like a ble outcome of online “activism.” No mat- war. ter how many likes or shares an issue can On the opposite end, the generate, in the end no long-lasting change paradigm shifter would state is made. that the role of society in polSo, then, how do you make a difference itics is structurally changing in the Russo-Ukrainian war? How do you due to social media, shifting the effectively be a social media activist? Is that power balance between even a possibility? government Authors, advocates, and academics and its citirange widely in their opinion of how effec- zens. tive social media can be as a tool for change. Social Bradley Allsop writes in “Social Psychology media activReview,” an academic journal publishing ism enables articles about the social sciences, about the us to create different perspectives on social media activ- far greater ism. He divides these viewpoints into three change in categories: “slacktivism,” “paradigm shift- the Rus-
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so-Ukrainian war than non-digital activism. In their vision, we can create radical and revolutionary change through social media. We would need to think big, to put together a massive movement, to voice our opinions. What I believe is most realistic is the facilitator viewpoint, the perspective that our voices online can make a difference by enhancing the in-person efforts of people across the globe. Not everyone is able to donate to help Ukrainians, not everyone is able to take in refugees, not everyone is able to organize protests, not everyone is able to be an activist in the traditional sense. In those cases, social media activism can be beneficial, emphasizing and adding the offline activism of others. This sort of activism would need to be motivated by a genuine will to help others, rather than a desire to be seen as a good person. If you want to make change because you care, take great effort to avoid the pitfall of becoming a performative activist, and put in consistent effort. The reality is that your singular post will not make a monumental dif ference. That’s the helplessness of war. There’s not an incredible amount that we can do about it. A facilitator would encourage you to try anyway.
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